Remembering Cherry Ponta
by mayzzzy
Summary: A short two-shot in which Ryoma remembers to buy Sakuno cherry ponta instead of grape ponta.
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone! I just felt inspired to write this little one-shot after listening to some piano music. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or any of its characters :d Wish I did because I'd totally go for Tezuka.

 **Remembering Cherry Ponta**

A short two-shot in which Ryoma learns to buy Sakuno cherry ponta instead of grape ponta.

 **Chapter 1**

"Ryuuzaki, catch." Ryoma Echizen tossed a ponta over to the girl who was sitting on the bench next to the vending machine. Sakuno fumbled a bit, looking a tad silly as she flailed around before catching the drink that Ryoma bought for her. She turned it over with high hopes that died quickly when she saw exactly what flavor he had bought.

Sakuno pouted at the boy who was now sitting next to her, drinking his own can of ponta. "Mou, Ryoma-kun! Grape again? Why can't you remember that I like cherry ponta?" Ryoma snorted, "Cherry tastes nasty and grape is obviously the best flavor. If you don't want it then I'm fine with having two cans." He made a grab for the can and Sakuno nudged his side before opening the can and drinking it so he didn't take it.

It was in their first year of middle school that they realized they had two loves in common, tennis and ponta. It was then that it dawned to them that they'd be good friends, though Sakuno's extremely obvious crush on Ryoma was still unknown to the boy.

In their second year with Kaidoh-sempai and Momo-sempai as captain and co-captain, their friendship intensified so Ryoma could play against Kintarou Tooyoma who was in love with Sakuno's spectacular cooking. Kintarou often came to Seigaku to visit the girl and would purposely take Ryoma's lunch from her, causing Ryoma to hate him even more for always stealing his food.

But now, in this moment they were sitting on a bench after a game and drinking ponta, their favorite pass-time.

"Next time Ryoma-kun, can't you get me the cherry flavor and not grape?" She sighed at her crush, already knowing she was asking for the impossible from him. As expected he gave a small 'hn' to her request so she rolled her eyes.

 _Ryoma-kun will be Ryoma-kun_ , she thought to herself. Some things were never going to change. She changed the subject before he started commenting on how he'll remember to get her cherry ponta when she remembers where her left and right is.

"Anyways, remember Kin-chan?" His eye twitched at the mention of him and she continued on without noticing, "Well he asked me on a date to an orphanage to spend the day looking after and feeding children. Though I'm pretty sure it's just a guise so he can eat my cooking again."

Her light laughter sounded the air but Ryoma only felt irritated at the news, instead of being happy for her, he snorted. "He's an idiot. Your cooking isn't that amazing. He should up his standards." He hadn't meant to insult her but he just didn't like Kintarou. She however looked hurt by his words.

"At least he appreciates me Ryoma-kun! You can't even remember what flavor ponta I like!"

She stormed off, leaving him there to sit alone on the bench.

XXxxXXxx

On the day of her date Ryoma sat in his room sulking, he hadn't apologized to her for what he said earlier in the week and his pride was stopping him from doing so. His phone buzzed. Again.

He looked at the screen and saw it was from Momo. He rolled his eyes, Momo probably found out about the date and was trying to contact him so he could save his lover from the vicious enemy before the enemy swayed Sakuno into marrying him and having his babies. He snorted again, Sakuno was probably going to be abstinent of sex her whole life and remain a virgin. They'd adopt kids from the stupid orphanage they were currently visiting today.

There was another set of buzzing from his phone, all from Momo. He didn't bother reading the texts and turned off his phone to be void of anymore messages. He distracted himself for the rest of the day by playing tennis in his backyard.

He soon forgot about all those messages from Momo and didn't bother turning his phone back on when he got to bed later in the night.

XXxxXXxx

Ryoma knew something was up.

When he got to school, he found out morning practice was cancelled, Ryuuzaki-sensei was absent. In class he noticed Sakuno was absent too.

 _Ah, something must have happened to Ryuuzaki-sensei yesterday. That's why Momo-sempai was trying to contact me._

He made a mental note to ask Momo during lunch.

In second period the loud chick who was Sakuno's friend broke down crying. Ryoma was slightly surprised, Ryuuzaki-sensei must've contracted something really bad if someone was breaking down crying.

When the bell finally rang he rushed to find his older friend. It wasn't hard to find him because he and Kaidoh were arguing again. Kaidoh said something that managed to irritate Momo because the spiky-haired boy punched the viper in the stomach, hard. Kaidoh recovered and sent his own blow to Momo's face. Ryoma ran up to them, stopping the two before it got too out of hand.

"So, are you guys going to tell me what happened to Ryuuzaki-sensei?"

Both boys turned to look at him, eyes hard. Their eyes were both blood-shot, as if they had been crying and didn't get any sleep the night before.

Momo's voice was low, "Do you really not care?"

Ryoma frowned, what did he mean?

"Here I am, defending you from this snake's accusations, and you're fucking standing there as if you give no shits about what happened yesterday!"Momo was yelling at him now, almost hysterically. He was looking at Ryoma unbelievably as if he couldn't understand why Ryoma wasn't in the same shape as Momo or Kaidoh, lack of sleep and as if they cried their heart out.

"Echizen, answer me! You didn't answer anyones texts or calls yesterday, not even mine. WHY?!"

Ryoma was silent, "… My phone's been off. I haven't turned it on yet." A flash of anger and despise coursed through Momo's eyes and Ryoma felt he was the next target to be hit. As Momo raised his fist to strike him Kaidoh intervened, holding Momo back from pummelling his friend.

"He doesn't know what happened."

Momo shrugged him off and walked away, never looking back at Ryoma.

Kaidoh turned to him before leaving as well, "Read the texts we all sent trying to contact you."

XXxxXXxx

Ryoma layed in bed looking up at his phone. What happened to Ryuuzaki-sensei that caused Momo and Kaidoh to have this kind of reaction? The news on the TV was playing in the background, some report about a man who traumatized a bunch of children yesterday, blah blah raped some girl who suffered many injuries and she had apparently died before getting to the hospital. The man was caught though, which was good. One less crazy person on the streets.

Ryoma wasn't paying much attention. His phone held most of his attention at the moment. He took a deep breath and turned in his phone.

Immediately he was spammed with over 200+ text messages and over 50 missed calls, all from different people. He clicked on Momo and scrolled all the way to the beginning of his spam.

And his blood ran cold at the first text sent.

 _Ryuuzaki-chan was raped._


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.

XXxxXXxx

 **Remembering Cherry Ponta**

A short two-shot in which Ryoma remembers to buy Sakuno cherry ponta instead of grape.

 **Chapter 2**

 _Ryuuzaki-chan was raped._

Ryoma didn't know what to think, in fact, his heart stopped for a moment.

Why would anyone want to hurt Ryuuzaki, innocent, harmless Ryuuzaki.

His mind was filled with images of her, most importantly how their last conversation turned out. He could have prevented this, he could have told her how he felt, and maybe, she wouldn't have gone with Kintarou.

His hands shook and he didn't want to read more. But he had to.

 _Echizen, where are you?_

 _I'm on my way to the town, so are all the other regulars._

 _We've called everyone we know to come help search for this asshole._

 _Echizen, where are you?!_

 _Ryuuzaki-chan and Kintarou are in the ambulance, apparently the guy has dealt more damage than just raping Ryuuzaki-chan._

 _Heard from Osakada, she contacted Kintarou asking what happened. She said Ryuuzaki-chan was shot in her side and is suffering from major hits to the head. Kintarou was shot in the leg and in the shoulder, he walked in on the guy hurting Sakuno._

 _We caught him. Wish you helped._

 _Ryoma, Sakuno just died._

His blood ran even colder and Ryoma lost track of everything in his mind.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, that couldn't be possible. She was probably sitting at home just fine, this was her lame attempt to get back at him for what he said earlier in the week.

He would call her, and she was going to answer and say something like, "I got you!" And everything would return to normal.

His shaky hands brought up her contact on his phone. He clicked the call button and brought the phone to his ear, waiting for her to pick up the phone and fill the emptiness with her voice.

"Hey there, this is Ryuuzaki Sakuno. I am unavailable at the moment so please try again later or leave a message at the beep. Sorry!"

He spoke, just as shaken up as his hands were, "Ryuuzaki this isn't funny. Sorry about last week but this is too far. All for a ponta? And because of what I said about your cooking? Stop being a child and answer the phone. If you don't answer when I call you again, I really won't buy you cherry ponta."

He hung up, texted her a simple "Answer the phone," and after a couple minutes he called again.

"Hey there, this is Ryuuzaki Sakuno. I am unavailable at the moment so please try again later or leave a message at the beep. Sorry!"

Ryoma let a tear slip, and then another.

He silently crouched into a ball on his bed as his heart weighed heavily. His eyes were blurry and he was forced to listen to the news being repeated again in his silent house.

"More input on the tragic event of yesterday, the man who raped and killed young Sakuno Ryuuzaki and shot Kintarou Tooyoma at an orphanage will be having his court day in a matter of days. If you are just tuning in now then please listen in on the horrifying details of yesterday. In the early afternoon yesterday Kintarou Tooyoma left the orphanage to buy ingredients from the grocery store for dinner later in the night. The victim, Sakuno Ryuuzaki was playing in the living room with all the kids when a man came bursting in and shooting everything in sight. According to the children he dragged the girl by her hair snd shot her in the side when she struggled. He proceeded to rip her clothes off and rape and beat her in the presence of the kids. When Tooyoma got back he saw the man and charged at him. The man shot him in the shoulder and in the leg then ran away. Tooyoma called authorities and other people to help with the search party and stayed with Ms. Ryuuzaki to keep her alive. The man has thankfully been captured, but the girl was unlucky as she died before the ambulance reached the hospital. We'll get back to you with more once the information has been released."

Pictures flashed across the TV, the one most important to him being the body that was covered. The hair was peeking out and he could recognize those pigtails any day.

Ryuuzaki Sakuno was dead.

Sakuno left him for good.

And she would never talk to him ever again.

Ryoma just lay there, crying and absolutely numb.

 _I need you._

XXxxXXxx

Six months later

Ryoma plopped down on a bench beside a vending machine, two pontas in hand. He passed one to Sakuno and kept one for himself. She turned it over and smiled widely, lighting up the world and making him feel fuzzy inside.

"I remembered to get you cherry ponta, so don't leave me okay?"

He took a sip of his drink while she just sit there contentedly with her own ponta.

"I can't stay long. I've got a game in a couple minutes and I came for some moral support."

Sakuno rolled her eyes at him and played with her can.

 _"Gambate… Ryoma-kun."_

Ryoma tilted his hat down and walked away.

He turned to where she would've sat and said, "Un… See you later Ryuuzaki," to a cherry ponta sitting on an empty bench.


End file.
